between state and federal authority, elizabeth, council for the second state usual center and john ooesman, professor of law. is it nullification if there's not a national law in this area if it's simply a supreme court decision not to uphold a stay. >> absolutely not. you know if the supreme court strikes down marriage laws across the country and then issues an order, that would be nullification. he way not do that. we have a single local trial, federal court judge whose actions are not binding on the state judiciary. there's two systems, a federal and a state system. neither are binding on each other, unless you get to the top, the pinnacle of both the supreme court of the united states. and the supreme court has not ruled these laws unconstitutional. it's binding precedent on the books saying they are constitutional. >> by voting 7-2 to not intervene, not stop the lower court judges ruling from going effect didn't they decide by not deciding. >> the supreme court has been clear over and over and over again. a decision not to intervene in a case cannot be treated as a decision on the mer

constitutional development center and prover john ooesman from the chapman school of law, thank you for joining us for "inside story". get in touch on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> some are blind. others are ridden with cancer. many have serious mental illness. all of them are old. and a few will never get out alive. >> the united states gives out longer sentences than any other place on the face of the earth. europe looks at us like we don't know what we're doing - looks at us like we're crazy. >> open nine. >> in this special investigation, fault lines gains unprecedented and exclusive access to prisons across the united states and discovers a booming population of elderly inmates. we ask: what's the true cost of america's "lock'em-up-and-throw-away-the- key" approach to justice? >> i heard him fall. >> inmates call this the death house. the geriatric unit at the joseph harp correctional center in lexington, oklahoma, holds more than 250 elderly and disabled offenders. it was created 3 years ago in response to a massive explosion in oklahoma's elderly prison population. >> our fa